Review: St. John's St. Cycles cheapie 110 PCD alloy crankset (~$60.00US) for old-fashioned BBs

The crankset itself is pretty nice, but the supplied steel chainrings are really lousy. That's OK, though, because $60 is still a very good price for such a nice crankset. I'll just have to buy some nice chainrings for it.

On Friday, January 30, 2015 at 1:08:00 PM UTC-5, wrote:
The crankset itself is pretty nice, but the supplied steel chainrings are really lousy. That's OK, though, because $60 is still a very good price for such a nice crankset. I'll just have to buy some nice chainrings for it.



WELL, GET OUT THE CAMERA AND FLASH POWDER so weezcan see this art piece.

On 1/30/2015 12:07 PM, wrote:
The crankset itself is pretty nice, but the supplied steel chainrings are really lousy. That's OK, though, because $60 is still a very good price for such a nice crankset. I'll just have to buy some nice chainrings for it.


How did that chainline measure up?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Friday, January 30, 2015 at 1:08:00 PM UTC-5, wrote:
The crankset itself is pretty nice, but the supplied steel chainrings are really lousy. That's OK, though, because $60 is still a very good price for such a nice crankset. I'll just have to buy some nice chainrings for it.

nnnnnnnnnnnn

whatsit made of ?

wrote in
:

The crankset itself is pretty nice, but the supplied steel chainrings
are really lousy. That's OK, though, because $60 is still a very good
price for such a nice crankset. I'll just have to buy some nice
chainrings for it.

It's designed for a touring bike. On a touring bike, weight is relatively
unimportant. but reliability is highly important. Steel chain rings
are far more robust and wear less than alloy rings which makes them
more suitable for long distance touring. I didn't know that good
quality steel rings were still available.

On 31/01/2015 01:34, Peter Gordon wrote:
wrote in
:

The crankset itself is pretty nice, but the supplied steel chainrings
are really lousy. That's OK, though, because $60 is still a very good
price for such a nice crankset. I'll just have to buy some nice
chainrings for it.

It's designed for a touring bike. On a touring bike, weight is relatively
unimportant. but reliability is highly important. Steel chain rings
are far more robust and wear less than alloy rings which makes them
more suitable for long distance touring. I didn't know that good
quality steel rings were still available.

That ought to be qualified with "Can be far robust and wear less" -
cheap steel rings are worse than decent alloy.

On Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 4:22:57 AM UTC, Clive George wrote:
On 31/01/2015 01:34, Peter Gordon wrote:
wrote in
:

The crankset itself is pretty nice, but the supplied steel chainrings
are really lousy. That's OK, though, because $60 is still a very good
price for such a nice crankset. I'll just have to buy some nice
chainrings for it.

It's designed for a touring bike. On a touring bike, weight is relatively
unimportant. but reliability is highly important. Steel chain rings
are far more robust and wear less than alloy rings which makes them
more suitable for long distance touring. I didn't know that good
quality steel rings were still available.

That ought to be qualified with "Can be far robust and wear less" -
cheap steel rings are worse than decent alloy.

Possibly. But I had some fortuitous experience with what I regarded as a "cheap" steel ring. When I bought my Utopia, I didn't want any of the (expensive) standard house fitments of cranks because I thought they were ugly, but I didn't know what exactly I wanted, except that it should be black. As a temporary measure the German dealer fitted the cheapest black steel crankset with my specified tooth count he could find. It was made by Amar in India. As it turned out, because of some health upsets and an inability to find precisely what I envisaged, it was some years and several thousand kilometers before I found a crankset I wanted. The Amar steel chainring was unmarked at about three times the distance that had worn out the Shimano Nexus aluminium chainrings I'd used on my other bikes. That's really good wear. Maybe the Amar is an isolated example of really good steel rings for a very advantageous price, but it impressed me.

Without a link, I can't see which crankset at SJS is being discussed. SJS offers own-brand thick ali chainrings that are used on both sides and among the touring and hardcore commuter fraternity are legendary for their longevity. But for $60 my bet is that you're getting the Stronglight steel rings that were fitted to the cheapest of the Impact chain sets (of which the cranks, actually being Sugino XD2 hotforged items, are desirable even if the steel rings aren't wanted; the same cranks for many multiples of the money are available under a variety of names). I bought the related, cold forged Stronglight item that is actually a Sugino Cospea for its better looks, and with it came ali rings definitely specced for weight weenies rather than tourers or commuters; I didn't even try them, replacing them immediately with Surly stainless steel to suit my zero-maintenance concept; I bought the crankset for the arms.

Andre Jute

https://www.google.com/#q=steel+bicy...rings&tbm=shop

Surly sez 35% 'stronger'

call Surly on that wudja ?

On Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 8:48:52 AM UTC-5, wrote:
https://www.google.com/#q=steel+bicy...rings&tbm=shop

Surly sez 35% 'stronger'

call Surly on that wudja ?

.................

whoa !

https://www.google.com/#q=steel+bicy...:pd&tbm= shop

Here you go:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qwrwgo6az8...nkset.jpg?dl=0

I forgot to mention, the axle end dust caps are plastic throwaways.

It says "B-9 forged" on the back of the crank. What does that mean?

Of course, I won't know how true it runs until I install it. Nor do I know what the chain line will be yet. This bike is my main rider, and at this time year I am trying to get some foundation miles in, so I'm procrastinating because I'm afraid I might experience complications when I install the new crank (for example, the chain might rub on the nose of the Campy front derailleur with that 34 tooth inner chainring, and I'll have to get a different derailleur).

I sure would like to know what the story is on the steel chainrings. Some of the teeth seem like they are all wallowed out, like they already have a bunch of miles on them, and a couple of other teeth are rather pointed. Is this just from poor manufacturing, or is there maybe some engineering reason for it? OTOH I guess I don't care that much because I intend to find some nice alloy chainrings for it anyway. Maybe I'll try the SJSC rings that Andre mentioned.